NITROGEN |
Plants are surrounded by the nitrogen (N) in our atmosphere. Every acre of the earth’s surface is covered by thousands of pounds of this essential nutrient, but because atmospheric gaseous nitrogen is present as almost inert nitrogen (N2) molecules, this nitrogen is not directly available to the plants that need it to grow, develop and reproduce. Healthy plants often contain 3-4% nitrogen in their above-ground tissues. These are much higher concentrations than those of any other nutrient except carbon, hydrogen and oxygen, nutrients not of soil fertility management concern in most situations. Nitrogen is an important component of many important structural, genetic and metabolic compounds in plant cells. It is a major component of chlorophyll, the compound by which plants use sunlight energy to produce sugars from water and carbon dioxide (i.e. photosynthesis). It is also a major component of amino acids, the building blocks of proteins. Some proteins act as structural units in plant cells while others act as enzymes, making possible many of the biochemical reactions on which life is based. Nitrogen is a component of energy-transfer compounds, such as ATP (adenosine tri phosphate) which allow cells to conserve and use the energy released in metabolism. Finally, nitrogen is a significant component of nucleic acids such as DNA, the genetic material that allows cells (and eventually whole plants) to grow and reproduce.
Soil Nitrogen
Different Nitrogen Sources
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